Just Sold: Hempel giving office building full amenity package'.

Byline: Anne Bretts

Editor's note: "Just Sold" is a Finance & Commerce feature based on certificates of real estate value recently filed for commercial transactions and significant residential transactions in Twin Cities counties. Additional details in the transactions come from Plat Research, the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office, company documents, online real estate listings, F&C archives, CoStar and other research. Some purchase prices and per-unit calculations have been rounded. Full prices are available on the CRVs posted here.

Minneapolis-based Hempel Cos. has targeted the underperforming Concorde Executive Center in Brooklyn Center for a makeover, and it's not wasting any time getting started.

MSP 6160 Center LLC, a Hempel entity, closed just two weeks ago on the $5.45 million acquisition from Concorde Executive Center LLC, an entity of the Atwater Group in Duluth. Since the Oct. 5 closing, Hempel has changed the building's name to SixtyOne60, reflecting its address at 6160 Summit Drive. It also has announced plans to give the 1986-vintage building a chic new lobby, conference center, tenant lounge and fitness center and is arranging boot camp classes and personal-trainer appointments for tenants.

"The plan is to remodel the building with a full amenity package," said Ben Krsnak, vice president of Hempel, which is investing $750,000 in initial improvements. "It's a trend. Tenants are demanding more."

Hempel's plans already are helping it boost the 104,000-square-foot building's anemic 70 percent occupancy rate by signing Minneapolis-based medical device company Cardialen Inc. to a lease for 5,500 square feet of space.

Cardialen announced Oct. 10 that it had closed on a $17 million Series B investment led byRiverVest Venture Partners, along with Qiming Venture Partners, HBM Healthcare Investments and Cultivation Capital.Cardialen is developing low-energy implantable defibrillation therapy devices.

Ben Krsnak, Brent Jacobson, Josh Krsnak and Mike Klisanich represented Hempel in the acquisition. Aaron Barnard of Cushman & Wakefield in Bloomington represented Atwater.

The sale price works out to $52.40 per square foot.

The six-story building and its 5.8-acre site have a lot of strengths, Ben Krsnak said. A sleek glass shell and 9-foot ceilings bring in a lot of natural light. A pond and trails offer a great view and opportunity for exercise.

The area around the building also has a lot to offer. Next door, Soderberg Apartment...